


A Hostage Situation

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29902380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Jim is a hostage in a car that goes off the road and over a cliff
Relationships: Jim Ellison & Blair Sandburg
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: 2021 Sentinel Thursday Recycled Challenges





	A Hostage Situation

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sentinel Thursday recycled prompt 'bad news'.

A Hostage Situation

by Bluewolf

The moment Blair opened the door and saw Simon's face, he knew that whatever the Major Crime Captain had come to tell him - especially because he had come in person and not just phoned - it was bad news.

"What's happened?" he asked as he stepped aside to let Simon enter. "Is Jim badly hurt?"

"We don't know yet," Simon replied. "We got a call out to a school - the secretary managed to hide long enough to make the call, though the last the call-taker heard was a voice saying, 'get the hell out of that closet!' and a clatter as - presumably - she dropped her phone. Apparently three men had entered the building, gone to the head teacher and demanded he send for one of the teachers. He told them she'd called in sick. They took him from his office to the nearest classroom, grabbed half a dozen children and told the rest of the class to get out.

"When we got to the school, we found that the situation was something of a stand-off. There was already a negotiator there - Harry Thoms."

Blair nodded. He knew the man, knew he was a skilled and very effective negotiator.

"The head teacher, the secretary, and the six children were all being held hostage and the spokesman for the three men - who'd given his name to Harry as John - said that they wanted to see one of the teachers, Avril Honeycombe. That if they didn't, they'd kill one of the kids every half hour till she appeared.

"Anyway, someone from the school tried to phone Ms. Honeycombe, and got no answer, so a patrol car went to her address - and found her lying dead. When they told John that, he went ballistic. That was when Jim offered to exchange himself for the eight hostages. John accepted the offer. The men didn't want a getaway car - they'd gone to the school in a car belonging to one of them - so they took Jim, got into their car and drove off. I'd say Jim acted prematurely, though - there was no way the men could have fitted more than one hostage into the car; they'd have had to let seven of them go.

"One of the patrol cars followed a good distance behind. But it headed for Cascade National Forest, and the patrol cops saw it fail to make a corner and it went off the road - at a point where there's a deep drop. As of half an hour ago, nobody had been able to reach the car. We've called in SAR because they have the equipment to deal with the conditions.

"But, Blair... it's hard to see how anyone in the car could have survived."

Blair was already reaching for his jacket. "Take me there."

***

When he saw the drop, Blair was forced to agree with Simon. It was indeed hard - no, make that impossible - for anyone in the car to have survived.

And then, from below, they heard a voice. "Help!"

Blair froze. "It's Jim," he whispered. Then, louder, "Does anyone have a rope?"

One of the patrol cops had thrown himself down and was peering down the drop. "I can't see anyone," he said. "Whoever that is is well down... and I don't see any sign of the car, either." He looked over at Blair. "We all have short lengths of rope," he said, "but even joined together we wouldn't have nearly enough to get down to where this guy is."

 _Oh, goddess_ , Blair thought _. More bad news. Can Jim hang on to whatever he's hanging onto until SAR arrives?_

And then he heard the distant, but getting rapidly closer, whump-whump-whump of a helicopter.

There wasn't enough room for it to land; one of the men in it was lowered on a rope. Told that there seemed to be a survivor, he hastily returned to the cabin, the chopper moved a few feet and he dropped down again and below the level of the road.

The patrol cop who'd already been looking over the edge resumed his position there and watched as the man dropped to the level of the trees then began to swing in towards the cliff.

Blair kept his eyes fixed on the cop. He would have liked to watch what was happening, but knew that his fear of heights would kick in and he would have to pull back.

Then after what seemed like an eternity, the patrol cop called, "Got him!"

Another eternity later, the two men attached to the rope reached road level. The chopper moved a few feet and the man being lifted out - Jim - was unfastened from the rope as Blair reached him and helped him to sit.

"Thanks!" Jim managed as the helicopter moved back to above the drop and the SAR man dropped out of sight.

"What happened?" Simon, who had been just behind Blair, asked.

"The driver was the guy who wanted to see Ms. Honeycombe," Jim said. "He kept muttering, 'How could you die on me?' as he was heading up the road. "And then... when he reached that bend, he didn't even try to drive around it, he just drove straight off the road. I don't think his friends were expecting that.

“Anyway, they hadn't tied my hands, and I managed to get the car door open and jumped for the side of the cliff. Managed to catch a root, but all I could do was hang on. Then after what seemed hours I heard voices above me and called for help... "

"You were lucky," Simon said.

"The other two... they were on the side away from the cliff. The one in the back beside me might have managed to get over and out my door, though I doubt he had time, but the two in the front didn't have a hope in hell. I heard the crash of the car hitting the ground just two or three seconds after I got out."

He looked around the circle of cops that had gathered round, grinned weakly and said, "Thanks," again.

***

The three bodies were lifted up and placed carefully at the side of the road. The SAR man said, "We've sent for a couple of ambulances - they should be here in a few minutes."

Jim said quietly, "Thanks again."

Simon said, "If there's ever anything Cascade PD can do for any of you, just contact Major Crime, Central Precinct."

"Just doing our job," the man replied as his team mates began to winch him back into the helicopter.

"I mean it!" Simon called.

The man gave them a wave, and then disappeared inside the helicopter, which immediately swung around and headed off.

As it disappeared behind some trees, the ambulances arrived. Jim was carefully loaded into one of them and the three bodies into the other, then leaving the patrol cops to decide what, if anything, to do about the crashed car, Simon and Blair followed the ambulances back to Cascade.

***

There was a wallet in 'John's' pocket that identified him as Andrew Honeycombe, and further investigation revealed that the teacher he had wanted to see was his estranged wife. After she had phoned the school to call in sick she had then died from a stroke. They could only assume that Andrew had wanted to be reconciled with his wife, and on hearing of her death decided to join her.

Meanwhile, Jim was released from hospital with instructions to take it easy for a few days - his arm muscles were somewhat strained from when he caught the roots that saved his life. And Blair was more than happy to 'spoil' his friend for those few days.


End file.
